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1 1 (March 31, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govegtf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the Iegislative debate since 1914 Updated March 31, 2022 Child Welfare: Purposes, Federal Programs, and Funding The Work of Child Welfare Agencies Children depend on adults-usually their parents-to protect and support them. The broadest mission of public child welfare agencies is to strengthen families so that children can depend on their parents to provide them with a safe and loving home. More specifically, child welfare agencies work to prevent abuse or neglect of children by their parents/caregivers. If abuse or neglect has already happened, the agencies are expected to provide aid, services, or referrals as needed to ensure children do not re-experience maltreatment. For some children, this means placement in foster care. Federal child welfare policy has three primary goals: ensuring children's safety, enabling permanency for children, and promoting the well-being of children and their families. Foster care is understood to be a temporary living situation. The first task of a child welfare agency is to provide services to enable children to safely reunite with their families. If that is not possible, then the agency works to find a new permanent family for the child via adoption or guardianship. Youth in care who are neither reunited nor placed with a new permanent family are typically emancipated at their state's legal age of majority. These youth are said to have aged out of care. Children Served During FY2020, public child protection agencies screened allegations of abuse or neglect involving 7.1 million children, carried out investigations or other protective responses involving 3.1 million of those children, and provided follow- up services in the homes of some 1.0 million of those children. Following a child protective services investigation, some children are removed to foster care. During FY2020, close to 217,000 children entered care. The circumstances most often associated with children's entry to foster care are neglect and/or parental drug abuse. Among the 407,000 children who were in foster care on the last day of FY2020, the majority (83%) lived in family homes (nonrelative or relative foster family homes and pre-adoptive homes), 10% lived in a group home or institution, about 6% were on trial home visits or in supervised independent living, and 1% had run away. Among the 224,000 children who formally left foster care during FY2020, the largest share returned to their parents or went to live informally with a relative (53%), while 36% left care for a new permanent family via adoption or guardianship. At the same time, 9% aged out of care, while most of the remainder (1%) were transferred to the care of another agency. Who bears public responsibility for this work? Under the U.S. Constitution, states are considered to bear the primary public responsibility for ensuring the well-being of children and their families. Public child welfare agencies at the state and local levels work with an array of private and public entities-including the courts and social service, health, mental health, education, and law enforcement agencies-to carry out child welfare activities. This work is done consistent with state laws and policies. At the same time the federal government has long provided technical support and funding that is intended to improve state child welfare work. By providing this funding, the federal government compels states to meet certain program rules, such as requiring permanency planning for all children in foster care. Compliance with these child welfare requirements is monitored via federal plan approvals, audits, and reviews. The Children's Bureau within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) administers most federal child welfare programs. State level administration may be housed in the state human services department, or by an independent, state-level child and family services agency. Some states have county-administered programs supervised by the state agency. Child Welfare Spending and Programs State child welfare agencies spent about $33 billion on child welfare purposes during state FY2018, according to a survey by researchers at Child Trends. Most of that spending drew from state and local coffers (56%). Of the remainder, 26% was supplied by federal child welfare programs-including those authorized in Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (SSA) and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)-and 18% came from other federal programs not solely child welfare-focused (principally, the Social Services Block Grant and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). For FY2022, about $11.7 billion was provided for federal programs that are wholly dedicated to child welfare. Figure I. Federal Child Welfare Funding by Purpose (FY2022 total: $11.7 billion. Dollars shown in millions) C:ir &Frme V-E rantsn h I~cl---s Source: Prepared by CRS using funding levels provided in Division H of P.L. 117-103. Funding for IV-E activities is based on FY2022 budget authority as used in the President's FY2023 budget. Amounts spent under these open- ended Title IV-E components may change. *Includes formula funding in Title IV-B and CAPTA; ** Includes competitively awarded funding and incentives in Title IV-E, Title IV-B, CAPTA, and the Victims of Child Abuse Act; *** Includes Chafee general and ETV funds. Foster Care, Prevention, Permanency under IVE Title IV-E supports foster care, adoption assistance, and (at state option) guardianship assistance to children who meet

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